Transparent Souls
by rwf000
Summary: A bit of a dark story. A first try at something different.
1. Chapter 1

**Transparent Souls**

~Alone, alone I stand, taking in the surrounding, shrugging off the cold stares of my relatives. Those who don't really care, but are just here for the show. They look at me with pity, with no good intentions, only trying to make themselves look like caring people. I grow tired of this bullshit every time I lose another close relative. The only good thing is that this is the last. My heart is cold, and I wont suffer from loss any more. Tomorrow is just another day to waste in this world I call hell.~

"Would you hurry up already, Ta~kun?", shouted Serin from the gate of the imposing family home. Serin heard a muffled reply, and she looked at the phone, hoping Taku would be out any moment, so they'd not be late. A few moment later, Taku dragged his way out of the house, yawning and slouching in his stance. Serin shook her head, but didn't bother make anything of it. She knew it was pointless trying to get him to do something. She just wished he had a little more pride in his appearance. Regardless, she grabbed his arm, and started to briskly drag him down the road leading to the station.

"Hey, why do we need to rush anyway?... it's just school, nothing important.", whined Taku, resisting slightly.

"Because I was left in charge of making sure you kept up with school, and that you didn't fall behind. You've barely gone enough days so far as it is. You want to be held back or something?", replied Serin not stalling for a moment.

"Ah, geese, you really are a nuisance, you know?"

"Call me whatever you like, I'm still getting you to school on time, and that's that."

Taku groaned, and looked to the train tracks over the other side of the stream. He lived in a small town called Hakudan. One train. One track. One road. It was a dry place, the stream always low, the flowers never full in colour, and there was no such thing as a winter uniform. He hated this place, and progressed through life as if nothing mattered. Serin, on the other hand, quite liked the town. It had an old style feel, she felt, and she loved the people, and how everyone felt so close.

After a few minutes more walk, they approached the familiar station and made their way onto the train. It was an outdated train. There was no air conditioning, and the windows shook violently even when the train was barely moving. Taku grunted as Serin sighed in relief that thy weren't late, moving to an empty seat, again simply staring off into the distance, looking at nothing in particular. Serin glanced to Taku with the usual worry, before being attacked by her best friend, and the only other female classmate of their year, Airi.

"Hey, hey! How did your homework go last night, Serin-san?", asked Airi with her usual spark.

Airi was a slightly taller then normal girl with long blue hair, blue eyes, and lots of energy. She loved sports, but was pretty poor with academics She always wore a bright red bracelet that hung loosely on her wrist.

"Ah, Airi-san. I had it finished before dinner. It was rather easy, didn't you think?"

In comparison to Airi, Seren had short brown hair, with light hazel eyes, and she was always a more calm, caring person. She was average at sports, but was brilliant with academics.

"What? It was the hardest homework yet! Don't you agree, Hirota-san?"

Taku completely ignored Airi's question, shrugging his shoulders.

Taku Hirota was a dark child. He lived life as if it was without meaning, and never tried to further himself. Average hight, average build, average in sports and academics, too. He wasn't a stand out person in any sense. He had black hair, and brown eyes.

Airi stared blankly to his back for a moment, and gave up, returning to her conversation with Serin instead.

An hour long trip, and they stopped at the communal station, where all the small towns from the area met for trade, work, and education. Even still, the entire school was made up of less then twenty individuals, both teachers and students alike. The school building wasn't so old as the train, being a rather recent acquisition by the local community to replace the old one lost to fire some nine years prior.

They were shuffled into their classroom without delay, and another day of boring classes begun once more. Taku again simply watched they sky out the window, the teacher ignoring him altogether.

The classroom and teacher matched perfectly. Both were young, but had an outdated feel to them. Both were cold, and both were void of colour, and emotion. Time passed as slow as ever, the breaks as boring as the class for Taku, who neither ate or conversed with others. He slept through the afternoon classes.

When classes were over, Serin and Airi left the classroom, headed to the shops to purchase some supplies. Airi purchased a magazine from the store, and head home ahead of Serin, who had to grab food for dinner. After grabbing what was needed for a quick curry, Serin headed for the station. Upon arriving at the station entrance, Serin was approached by some thuggish boys.

"What's for dinner, cutie?", asked one of them as he grabbed her shoulder, the other's circling around her.

"Curry", replied Serin timidly, hoping not to provoke them.

"Oh, curry is it? Well where's our share?"

"I only have enough stuff to make it for two people, sorry"

"That's no good. Maybe we'll just have to have something sweet instead, like you."

The thug gripped her shoulder with more force, and Serin winced in pain.

"Let go of me, I need to go home", cried Serin, struggling to pull away.

The thugs only laughed, enjoying the trouble they were causing. In an instant, Taku had jumped the thugs, having heard Serin's cries. Attacking them without mercy, Taku punched them in the stomach, and kicked any who fell to the ground. He was quickly outnumbered and overpowered though, being given a harsh beating before the thugs left in satisfaction, spitting at the ground in front of the writhing Taku beforehand. Serin cried out through the entire ordeal, but nobody came to Taku's aid, and she ran to his side as soon as the thugs left him alone.

"Taku! Are you alright? What were you thinking?", Serin shouted as she tried to help Taku up.

"You aren't meant to catch the late train, Serin", was the only thing Taku said, spitting a bit of blood on the ground, painfully making his way onto the train.

Once they arrived home, Taku dropped onto the floor to relax, while Serin moved into the kitchen and started on dinner.

"What are you doing? Go have dinner at your house.", exclaimed Taku, rolling onto his side.

"Can't do that. If I do, I know you want eat. Besides, my parents aren't home tonight.", replied Serin, washing the vegetables. The night went quietly after that. They ate dinner without much talk, and Serin went home after a little studying.

Author notes:

This story is not meant to be comedic. It's pretty hard to write like this, actually, and this is my first attempt at doing so. The characters and locations are all more or less made up names to my knowledge. Any likeness to other characters for stories, games, or series is purely coincidental. Feel free to rate and/or review.


	2. Chapter 2

**Transparent Souls Ch2**

"Admit it. You wanted to see her in pain. You wanted to touch her tears, hear her writhing, and relish the sight of her suffering. Imagine how beautiful she'll look covered in bruises. That stupid smile removed once and for all."

Starting awake in a cold sweat, Taku had woken up earlier then normal. He groaned quietly, and forced himself from the bed, dragging his way into the shower. Over at her own house, Serin was busy preparing her bento for the day, and one for Taku, if he would actually care for any food. Humming cheerfully, she placed the finishing touches to the light meals, a pair of sandwiches she felt quite proud of. It was a Sunday today, and Serin had intended on studying at Taku's house. In part to relieve herself of loneliness, and in part to ensure Taku was ok after the previous evening.

With a quick kiss, and a cheerful parting comment, she left her family and made her way to Taku's house. The exterior of his house was ghastly, showing the lack of light in the owner's soul. The lawn was dead in parts and in one spot completely overgrown. There were old newspapers scattered near the door, and the whole area appeared to reject the light from the morning sun. The interior was not much better, empty, colourless walls and cupboards, with old rooms filled with boxes of loving memories long forgotten. Serin sighed as she skimmed over her study notes, dreading the upcoming history test, she looked over towards the ever silent Taku.

"I'm starting to feel a bit hungry. How about you, Ta-kun?~", queried Serin in a humful voice.

Taku merely shrugged, sprawled on the floor, gazing towards the shadowed ceiling.

"What's wrong? You haven't even looked towards me all morning. Are you hurt still from last night?"

_Why the hell is she so perceptive all the time? I don't want to look at her after that stupid dream..._

"...so, lunch?" replied Taku, trying to steer the conversation away from it's current direction.

"Sure! I made some sandwiches. There's salad or cold meat. Which do you want?"  
"I'm fine with whatever"

Serin split both sandwiches, and they both had half of each. She sat across Taku munching on one of the halves joyfully.

"How is it?", questioned Serin, hoping it's to his liking.

"Tastes like a sandwich"

"Ah, right..."

_Why is he being so cruel to me today? I was so confident in the salad sandwich as I do something to upset him?_

"Ah, toilet", stated Serin as she got up from the table, making her way towards the hallway.

Taku rested his head atop the table, drifting off into a light sleep.

"Wah!", cried Serin as she crumbled to the floor, a cloud of dust engulfing the room. Taku was startled awake.

The table was clean, though the air was thick with the feeling of dust. Taku looked to the clock drearily, being informed that he had slept for three hours. More importantly, Taku scowled, grabbing the photo from atop the mantle below the clock, and making his way to find the mischievous Serin.

"What're you doing? You aren't meant to be going through this old junk", exclaimed Taku, shoving the photo into the nearest box, folding it shut without care for the contents.

Serin pulled herself up from the floor, holding a cleaning rag in one hand, and her index finger raised on the other, "I was just cleaning up a bit, and the main room could do with a bit more...", started Serin.  
"I said it's junk. Leave it where it is. Besides, you don't have to clean up this place. It's not your responsibility.", and Taku turned toward the door again.

Serin waited for Taku to leave the room before letting her breath out, whispering to herself; "A happy memory is not junk, stupid."

A few minutes later, the pair were sitting in the main room. Taku was sprawled as usual on the floor, and Serin was sitting on the couch watching the television. The couch was the whitest thing in the house, and only because Serin would clean it whenever Taku wasn't looking. The television in comparison was old, and the picture was always fuzzy. Suddenly the television screen was filled with the pictures of a grim news report, catching Serin's attention with tear-filled eyes: _Police are still looking for suspects in what has been dubbed, the time murder. "Airi Takehishta, 15, was found brutally raped and murdered under the train station clock late last night in..._

"WHAT?", cried Serin in shock, rising from her seat and fumbling erratically in her pocket, reaching for her mobile. She called Airi immediately, only to receive her voice mail.

Taku watched on, unsure of what to do, or to say. Serin apologised in a rushed manner, and quickly left for home, forgetting her study notes. Taku didn't see Serin at school for the next few days. His days went on as normal, though the small school was in a state of chaos over the incident. Students were to go straight home from school, and were never to go away from crowded areas alone. No talking to strangers. No working. No going on dates. Nothing but school and home.

It was now Thursday, and Taku hadn't seen Serin since Sunday. He hadn't eaten since Sunday as well. He collapsed while walking to one of his classes, and woke up in the infirmary a few hours later. The infirmary was as bland as the classroom, though Taku found himself petting the brown haired girl sleeping at the side of his bed. Serin looked as if this was the first time she had slept since Sunday, and she wasn't looking at all healthy. Taku placed his jacket around Serin and laid back on the bed muttering:

"Jeez, you're a nuisance."

Authors note: Well, that's the second chapter done. It's still hard as hell to write this sort of stuff. I still suck at expanding out with things as well. Was never my strong point. Main reason why I want to learn to draw, and get good at that. Regardless, no smiles in this chapter after the first few lines. And Taku is still as boring as ever. Will be expanding on their relationship in the next chapter, and will likely finish the story at chapter four, depending on how things are looking. Feel free to review or whatever. Getting them gives me incentive to keep updating. Oh, and in case you didn't pick up on it italics were used to represent thoughts, and bold with italics to represent background noise(television, phones, PA's, etc).


End file.
